AT-Seeley-Woodworth Shelter info

“I'm leading a 27 mile backpack across the Priest and 3-Ridges region in VA. We'll be spending the first night at this shelter. Does anyone know where the water source is ... on the shelter spur, on the AT north or south of the shelter ... or somewhere else? Map 13 doesn't show it. Leonard Adkin's book has a "Twin Springs" about 0.25 miles north of the site.

Any info would be useful.

M”

“If you are standing facing the open side of the shelter, the water source down the hill to your left. It's not far. There is lots of good camping around back. The spots under the pine trees are the most comfy. The pine needles make for a nice cushy bed. There are plenty of trees for hammocks.”

“I have not yet been to that area, but hopefully I will have that section soon. Is that the area of the infamous AT rollercoaster?”

“Not sure if that is the infamous section, but there's plenty of ups and downs. The Priest is a butt kicker! Let me know if either of you need a shuttle back to your car when you do that section. I would be glad to help.”

“I called the Appalachian Trail Hedquarters in Harpers Ferry today and they said it's a piped spring 0.1 miles further down the spur trail.

This is waaaaay south of the Roller Coaster. I've never hiked it (The Roller Coaster) before but it's supposed to be between Snicker's Gap and the Bear something Hostel. Not looking at a map at the moment but that's a couple hundred miles north of where we're hiking .... I think.”

“Total elevation gain over 3 days will be about 4000 feet. We're hiking south to north so we will be spared the steep climb of the Priest. Still we'll climb 1000 feet in about 1.5 miles at the end of a 13 mile day. At the beginning of the final day we'll climb 2100 feet over 3 miles.Here's the map: http://mrhyker.tripod.com/AT-Priest-3Ridges.JPGNote that the topo lines are in meters at this scale.”

“The S-W shelter was pretty cool. Found the spring with no problem. Still can't figure out how they moved that concrete vault and dug the pit for that privy. Pretty swank as AT privies go. The campsites behind the shelter were nice but, CW, there are no pine trees.

The original plan was to try to hike from there to Harpers Creek in one day but by time we got down to the Tye River it was nearly dark and half the group was pretty exhausted (including myself). Fortunately we got one of the sites on the other side of the bridge and called it a day.

The slower group bailed out at that point and hitched a ride back to their car. The rest of us opted to do the Mau-Har Tr instead of the Three Ridges. I was pretty wasted by the time it was all said and done. If I had to do it over again I would but would make some changes so that I'd make sure we got to do Three Ridges.”

“going over three ridges NOBO is about as tough as doing Mau-Har IMO so either one can kick some butt

did you go up on at Spy Rock?”

“was one of the highlights. The sky was crystal clear. I told the group that both the Mau-Har and Three Ridges Routes would be butt kickers but the majority thought that with all the heat that the shorter route would be better. Besides we had a couple of real water bugs along with us. I'll have a trip report and trail description on my site in the next day or 2. We found some nice vistas not shown on the PATC map. One was about 2 miles south of the S-W shelter and the other was between the Priest Shelter and the summit. Tried to find Wolf Rocks but couldn't. My GPS sain I was standing right in front of it at one point but dang if we could find it.”

“What? No pine trees. Last time I was there was in 2001 or 2002. Evidently, they are gone now. Glad you had a good hike.”

“It was plenty shady but mostly a canopy of black birch and cherry I believe. The ground was flat and soft. Some of the best sleeping on the ground was done that night!”

“Hmmm...maybe I had the type of tree wrong. It's been a long time. I do recall the nice soft ground though.”

“Its taking longer than expected to get my site updated. Here are some photos I wanted to share.

http://mrhyker.tripod.com/ericsrock.jpg
http://mrhyker.tripod.com/spyrock-1.jpg
http://mrhyker.tripod.com/spyrock-3.jpg
http://mrhyker.tripod.com/spyrock-3a.jpg
http://mrhyker.tripod.com/tarjacket-1.jpg
http://mrhyker.tripod.com/tarjacket-2.jpg”

“awesome pics”